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March 13, 2008
Does Google Think Your Site Was Hacked?
By Scott Goodyear
Has your site recently taken a nose dive in the rankings? Do you find that your site is no where to be found even if you use your domain name as the search term? Whether you have a Google WebMaster Tools account or not, you may now find a note from the WebMaster team waiting for you, after you've created an account and verify your site.
Google says that they now, keep important emails in their WebMaster Tools area. It may seem like no big deal but if your site was hacked, then serving up a virus or other malware... and Googlebot caught on, you might find that your site now sported a Google malware warning once users clicked on your link in the Google search results.
While Google reps might have previously attempted to send an email to you, to warn you that they've detected malware on your site, or if there were other issues... Many web masters close the typical addresses that Google and others might try to use like abuse@, webmaster@, admin@, administrator@, etc. in order to avoid spam.
In some cases, people were even spoofing Google WebMaster emails in order to scare other web masters, gain logins, etc.
If you find that you are getting a Google malware warning or you have a notice about a penalty, while Google can warn you, they really don't do much to clarify where or what malware that they found. And they may or may not tell you if your site was indeed penalized. (In some cases even Google may not know that they're penalizing you.) At least not yet. But you might turn to Google groups, review your prior SEO activities, or look for a company that specializes in malware detection.
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